2019 IAAF World Indoor Tour Recap

February 2019by T&FN

In the WIT kickoff meet, Sydney McLaughlin ran her only indoor race of the year, winning the 500. (KEVIN MORRIS)

SEASON NO. 4 of the IAAF’s World Indoor Tour played itself out with 6 meets in 26 days, highlighted by Samuel Tefera’s World Record in the 1500. The tour was composed of 11 disciplines: 5 men (400, 1500, 60H, HJ, LJ) & 6 women (60, 800, 3000/5000, PV, TJ, SP), although each was not contested in each meet. The overall winner of each event received $20,000 and—perhaps more importantly—Wild Card status for the ’20 World Indoor. The 6 meets:

Boston: Kejelcha Miles 3:51.70

The U.S. stop on the WIT, featuring a fast men’s mile, has its own coverage in the U.S. news section.

Karlsruhe: Montler Upsets Echevarría

No. 1 World Ranker Juan Miguel Echevarría took a surprising loss in the long jump as Thomas Montler of Sweden leaped the same 26‑6¼ (8.08) as the Cuban, but had the better second jump. In the high jump, Naoto Tobe cleared a world leader and Japanese Record 7-8½ (2.35). “My goal this season was get the national record but now I’ve already done that,” he said. Three tied for the win in the women’s vault, with Alysha Newman, Anzhelika Sidorova and Katerína Stefanídi all clearing 15-5½ (4.71), Newman claiming a Canadian Record. Katie Nageotte took 4th with a 15-2¼ (4.63).

Toruń: Tefera Lowers PR To 3:35.57

Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera, the World Indoor champion who is still only 19, produced a 3:35.57 world leader over 1500 to beat the 3:36.50 Polish Record by Marcin Lewandowski. Frustrated by the pace of his rabbit, Aman Wote, Tefera said later that he could have done better. “The opening was a little slow. I was expecting faster,” he said.

Sam Kendricks captured the vault with a second-attempt clearance at 18-11½ (5.78) and then took three attempts at 19-5 (5.92). Ewa Swoboda of Poland topped Marie-Josée Ta Lou in the women’s dash, sprinting 7.15 to the World Indoor runner-up’s 7.16. An exciting women’s 800 finish saw Ethiopia’s Habitam Alemu outlean Laura Muir at the finish, 1:59.49–1:59.50.

Madrid: Tori Franklin Triples AR 47-9¾ (14.57)

She may have lost the triple jump in her Spanish appearance, but Tori Franklin captured the indoor American Record to go alongside the outdoor best in her collection. With Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas already in the lead with her booming first-round 48-11½ (14.92) that moved her to No. 12 on the all-time list, Franklin opened up at 46-½ (14.03), then bounded the record 47-9¾ (14.57) on her second try to take down Keturah Orji’s national standard of 47-8 (14.53) from last season. In/out, Franklin’s jump ties the No. 7 performance in U.S. history. She finished off with a solid series: 47-2½ (14.39), foul, 47-6¼ (14.48), 46-9 (14.25).

For Rojas, whose mark was the farthest indoor TJ in the world since ’10, it was the sign that she had successfully rehabilitated after injuries hampered her ’18 campaign. “I feel great happiness as all the hard work I have done with my team has paid off today,” she said.

Russia’s Anzhelika Sidorova produced a world-leading 16-1¼ (4.91) in the vault to move to =4 on the all-time list. She handily topped Greece’s Nikoléta Kiriakopoúlou (15‑6½/4.74).

Birmingham: Muir Miles 4:18.75

Samuel Tefera lit up the Müller GP in Birmingham with his metric mile record, but just about as popular was the women’s equivalent, run at a real mile. Laura Muir thrilled the home crowd with her national record 4:18.75, the No. 3 performance ever, trailing just Genzebe Dibaba (4:13.31) and Doina Melinte (4:17.14) on the all-time list. The 25-year-old Scot also claimed the national 1500 record en route with her 4:01.84. “I just wanted to run a similar distance to 1500m because I have not raced over 1500m since the end of last season,” she said. “It was the perfect way to prepare for the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow.”

The meet also crowned the first two WIT champions of the year, Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarría claiming the men’s LJ title and Ethiopian’s Alemaz Teshale the women’s 3000.

Düsseldorf: Ingebrigtsen Takes Down Tefera

Jakob Ingebrigtsen was chasing Samuel Tefera twice over in Düsseldorf, as the PSD Bank Meeting wrapped up this year’s World Indoor tour. In a battle of teenage stars, the 18-year-old Norwegian was not only looking for a win but also trying to take down the 19-year-old Ethiopian’s claim to the fastest indoor 1500 ever by a Junior. He was successful on both counts.

Rabbits Bram Som (56.14) and Adam Czerwinski (1:54.44) did the early dirty work and when the Pole pulled off the track with about 2 laps to go, with new WR holder Tefera on his shoulder, Ingebrigtsen quickly halved his margin behind the Ethiopian. He patiently stayed a stride or so behind until the middle of the final curve, where he began his surge and pulled away down the homestretch to win 3:36.02–3:36.34.

“I felt good,” said the winner. “You always have some negative thoughts, going from zero at the start to that kind of pace. But through the race I started feeling better. From there on the goal was just to beat Tefera.” He also beat Tefera’s 3:36.05 of last year as the fastest U20 time ever indoors. That mark wasn’t ratified by the IAAF because of a lack of testing.

Tefera did win one of the 9 overall WIT titles handed out during the meet. So did Marie-Josée Ta Lou, whose 7.02 in the 60 claimed the yearly world lead.

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